2019 Audi S7 Sportback Gets Overtaken by Megane RS During Nurburgring Testing

Its current iteration has been on the road for quite some time, about as much as the Megane RS that's seen overtaking it in this Nurburgring spy video. It might have an unsophisticated torsion beam at the back and a 2.0-liter engine up front, but Renault made one hell of a hot hatch.

We're supposed to be hearing a 4.0-liter V8 engine. That's what the current S7 has; it's what the new S8 will have, and there's one under the hood of the Porsche Panamera (co-developed to an extent with Audi). But the sound produced by the prototype hints at downsizing.

Audi has made it a tradition to not up the power output from generation S/RS model to the next. And with the outgoing S7 producing 450 HP, the same as the RS5... well, you can see where this is going. We could be dealing with yet another sports coupe that's powered by the 2.9-liter twin-turbo TFSI engine. A twin-clutch gearbox is also out of the question.

This is just one of many European performance cars that are the exact opposite of a tuner's delight. Recently, we've seen a Peugeot 308 GTi being tuned from 270 HP to... 276 HP. Of course, it won't be as bad with the S7, but people routinely got over 600 ponies from the 4.0 TFSI.

The entire redesigned A7 lineup, which is a second-generation model, rides on Group’s latest’s MLB platform. The new platform will bring weight savings, and we might also see electrified versions of the four-door coupe.

The A8 will be first to come out later this year, but we expect the A7 and A6 families to follow in 2018 as 2019 models. That's plenty of time to listen for trademark engine sounds.